This disclosure generally relates to a process for treating meat and poultry carcasses with an anti-microbial agent to remove pathogens.
Modern processing operations for preparing chicken, beef, pork, veal, turkey, duck, or other meats typically include an automated system that generally comprises slaughtering, bleeding, scalding, evisceration, cleaning, chilling, and packaging steps. Each step requires careful control of contamination to prevent cross-contamination, prevent spoilage, and possibly illness from subsequent consumption. Due to its very nature, the process of evisceration exposes the exterior body surfaces and inner body cavities of the animals or birds to the contents of digestive and intestinal tracts. As a result, the evisceration process can cause excrement, blood clots, or other pathogen-laden particulate matter to deposit and become attached to the carcass, and in particular, to surface fat layers, tissue, and feather or hair follicles. Consequently, immediately after the evisceration step, levels of bacteria and other pathogens on the surface of the carcass typically increase relative to pre-evisceration levels.
Several methods have been developed, with some regulated into use, to reduce the overall contamination rate after evisceration. Among these are co-current and counter-current chill tank systems and the addition of various processing aids to these tanks. Sonification may be also employed in the chill tank at sonic or ultrasonic frequencies. Generally accepted methodologies utilize mechanical paddles or spirals to submerge and move the carcass through the chill tank.
Other methods include mechanically spraying the carcass with water or a treatment solution under high pressure to Insure good contact. For example, one such process includes spraying a trialkyl metal orthophosphate solution onto the carcass at about 5 to about 150 psi. Additional methods include contacting the eviscerated carcass with a treatment solution in a rotating drum or immersion in a drag-through dip tank.
While these methods provide adequate cleaning of the carcass and reduce the body temperature to prolong the product""s freshness and shelf life, the current processes are not particularly effective at reducing pathogens, especially when the carcass has relatively high levels of pathogens, such as can be the case after evisceration. Moreover, current methods fail to penetrate the hair or feather follicles of the animal or bird carcass, wherein the pathogens can reside and further contaminate the carcass tissue. While most bacteria and other pathogens still present on the carcass can be easily killed by heat, such as during cooking, colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria can attach and/or reside in the regular and irregular surfaces of the carcass skin. These bacteria can then multiply and, thereafter, contaminate working surfaces, hands, utensils or whatever surface the processed meat or poultry contacts. Food spoilage and illness can result from this carry over of bacteria or cross-contamination from the infected carcass to surfaces not heated sufficiently to cause thermal destruction of the bacteria. Thus, removal of pathogens and other bacteria sources during processing is desired and there remains a need in the art for improved methodologies for effectively removing or reducing the levels of pathogens after evisceration.
Disclosed herein is an apparatus and process for cleaning an eviscerated carcass. The apparatus comprises a housing structure comprising an entrance and an exit; a conveyor for conveying the eviscerated carcass through the housing structure; a cleaning solution supply in fluid communication with a tubular member mounted within the housing structure, wherein each tubular member has a plurality of outlet orifices for spraying the cleaning solution onto the exterior surfaces of the eviscerated carcass; and a rotating brush assembly comprising at least one rotating brush having an axle and bristles fixedly attached along a length of the axle.
In another embodiment, the cleaning apparatus comprises a housing structure comprising an entrance and an exit; a cleaning solution supply in fluid communication with a tubular member disposed within the housing structure, wherein each tubular member has a plurality of spray nozzles for spraying the cleaning solution onto the exterior surfaces of the eviscerated carcass; a flood nozzle disposed within the housing structure and communicating with the cleaning fluid supply, wherein the flood nozzle has a discharge outlet directed toward an upper portion of the carcass; and a rotating brush assembly comprising at least one rotating brush having an axle and bristles fixedly attached along a length of the axle with its longitudinal axis about parallel to a general direction of movement of the eviscerated carcass through the cleaning apparatus.
The process comprises conveying the eviscerated carcass along a track through a cleaning apparatus; and simultaneously spraying the exterior surface of the carcass with a cleaning solution and brushing the exterior surface of the carcass.